Whatever benefits Lewis Hamilton will be able to bring to Ferrari, they will pale in comparison to Adrian Newey’s Aston Martin impact.

That is the blunt assessment made by Aston Martin’s two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso, who believes a designer always triumphs over a driver when it comes to influencing success in a Formula 1 team.

Alonso: Lewis Hamilton Ferrari influence ‘less’ than a designer

With anticipation building for what could be an all-time classic season of F1 action in 2025, two of the most intriguing subplots can be found at Ferrari and Aston Martin.

After a 12-season Mercedes stint which saw various records tumble – such as those for most race wins, podiums and pole positions – seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton has made the move to Ferrari for F1 2025, his childhood dream becoming a reality.

Meanwhile, at Aston Martin, the arrival of legendary F1 designer Adrian Newey is drawing ever closer, the 66-year-old to begin work from March following his exit from Red Bull, where he further built on his collection of title-winning designs.

By linking-up with Alonso, Newey ticks off a driver on his F1 bucket list to work with – Hamilton being the other – and while speaking with Spanish media at the F1 75 season launch event in London, Alonso had described Newey as a “free spirit” within the team, his Aston Martin colleagues unable to “control him” as he works how he sees best.

And the results of this, Alonso claims, will be felt far greater than what Hamilton could inspire at Ferrari.

“Adrian Newey will always have more impact than any driver,” Alonso stated. “Drivers come and go, the 20 of us here try to drive well and we have achieved things until we get to F1.

“I don’t know what Hamilton will bring or add to Ferrari, it will surely be less than what a designer can bring.”

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After announcing his Red Bull departure ahead of the 2024 Miami Grand Prix, Newey entered a period of soft gardening leave, whereby his role to play in the F1 team ended there and then, but he continued work on their RB17 hypercar project.

At Aston Martin, Newey – who takes on the newly-created managing technical partner role and was given shares in the team – will place his focus on the F1 2026 ruleset revamp to come, when new chassis and power unit regulations arrive.

Aston Martin at that point will take over use of the Honda engine from Red Bull.

However, Newey admitted that he will be working behind schedule on the F1 2026 rules at Aston Martin, with teams permitted to work on their cars for that season as of the start of 2025.

In an appearance on the Autocar podcast, it was put to Newey that while he has been on gardening leave since May after announcing his Red Bull exit, the team cannot stop him thinking of innovations that will benefit his future employer Aston Martin.

He replied: “No, they can’t, but they’ve blocked my tools.

“So obviously, Aston wants to do the best job they can in ’25, but my main kind of focus will be the ’26 regulations and this big change, because I start on March 2.

“The aero rules come out, I think, 1 January, or might be the second, whatever the working day is.

“So I’ll already be kind of two months behind the curve. But in truth, of course, it’s more than that, because not only will I be behind on the looking at those regulations compared to when they’ve come out… With the way the regulations have gone, you really need to be in front of a CAD [computer-aided design] system as well, to be able to understand all the boxes and so forth. They’re so prescribed.

“But also, it will be getting to know a new team, getting to know all the guys and girls there and how we all work together.”

However, it will not be long into his Aston Martin journey before Newey first starts his designing process.

Newey’s manager is Eddie Jordan – the former F1 team owner – and in an appearance on the Formula For Success podcast, Jordan was asked: “When does he first put a pencil on a piece of Aston Martin paper and start that design process?”

Jordan confirmed: “Fifth, sixth of March.”

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